Prepare the ground.
I begin with the work as it exists. I talk to learners and staff, look at the evidence on hand, and take stock of the constraints. The team can then agree on the problem and choose what to tackle first.
Biography
Work that
moves people.
I lead academic programs, partnerships, and creative work across music-industry education, arts administration, workforce development, and learning innovation.
The work is practical: support people as they make, practice, share, and connect their work to opportunity.
Practice
How I
work.
The tree on the home page is a map of how I work. The roots are the people and limits a team needs to understand before moving. The trunk and branches are the program, performance, or partnership the team builds. The nest gives people a place to test the work, get feedback, and make changes. The birds are people carrying the work forward on their own.
Let ideas take shape.
I put early ideas in front of the people who will carry them forward. Faculty, staff, artists, learners, and community partners do not see the same risks. Making those differences visible helps the group set a direction and keep moving.
Test what grows.
The nest and eggs mark the point where a new idea needs to hold up. Before investing more, I put early work in front of the people who will use it. We look for where people get stuck, what they ignore, and what begins to work. Then the team decides what to revise or whether the idea needs more time.
Make a place to land.
A program, performance, or partnership is ready when people can use it without the original team standing over it. We launch, watch the work in use, and stay close enough to correct problems. If the work still needs help, we give it another cycle.
Professional experience
Professional
path.
The work has moved across academic leadership, arts administration, workforce development, and learning innovation. Each setting has involved people making a program, partnership, or learning experience work in the real world.
- 2025 - present
Associate Dean and Director for Creative Impact Programs
Western Governors University, School of BusinessI lead program strategy, personalized learning design, and hands-on assessment for a business portfolio.
Academic leadership and learning systems
- 2025
Interim Chair and Associate Dean
Harrisburg Area Community CollegeAs Interim Chair of Communications, Humanities, and Arts, I worked with more than 90 faculty across five campuses and online during unionization and a presidential transition. The Associate Dean role extended that work to workforce-aligned programs, faculty development, and external partnerships.
Academic change management and workforce leadership
- 2024 - 2025
Executive Director, Learning Innovation and Workforce Solutions
Thinking Through AIWith workforce partners, we co-designed learning platforms and credential pathways that connected skill development to employer needs.
Product, partnerships, and workforce learning
- 2022 - 2024
Associate Vice President and Assistant Professor
Harrisburg University of Science and TechnologyI led experiential learning and student professional development, working with employers to build applied opportunities.
Experiential learning at scale
- 2015 - 2022
Associate Dean, Director, and Assistant Professor
Albright CollegeAt Albright College, I led Music Industry Studies with a department of 8 full-time and 12 adjunct faculty. As Associate Dean, I worked with 7 direct reports and 12 staff across career development, experiential learning, student employment, and the 13th Street Educational Partnership.
Academic operations, creative education, and career development
- 2013 - 2019
Founder, President, and Music Director
Reading Samba SchoolReading Samba School brought musicians, local audiences, and cultural organizations together through public performances and partnerships.
Civic arts leadership and community engagement
- Earlier career
Experience Designer
Entertainment Plus ProductionsProjects began with research into the client and their audience, then developed into live experiences people could take part in and remember.
Live experience design and production
Creative practice
Music shapes
my work.
Years spent performing, writing, arranging, and making records taught me how an early idea becomes a finished product or performance. It takes rehearsal, collaboration, and care.
An arrangement gives an ensemble a shared score: melody, harmony, form, and instrumentation. Musicians work out phrasing, articulation, tempo, balance, tone, and dynamics in rehearsal. Those choices give a performance its character.
I bring that experience to programs and partnerships. I start with research and established practice, then set clear boundaries so people can use their judgment and experience to shape work for the people it serves.
View selected music credits
Selected work
Scholarship and
creative practice.
Selected work in writing, performance, program development, and community practice.
Music and creative practice.
Performance work has included commissions, premieres, recordings, and the community work of Reading Samba School.
Writing and speaking 6 selected links
Writing and presentations on experiential learning, workforce development, AI, and academic leadership.
Compositions, commissions, and premieres Archive
Sound Masses and Wine Glasses brought together original music, performance, and glass art in 2019. My work also includes commissions from Casey Cangelosi, Pius Cheung, Igor Silva, and Justin Raines; premieres for multi-percussion, marimba, and cimbalom; and a masterclass at the International Percussion Festival in Córdoba, Argentina.
Recognition and service Honors · community
Named 2025 Educator of Note by the Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame and a five-time quarterfinalist for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award; recognized in 2024 as a Campus Sustainability Champion by the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium. My civic work includes Reading Samba School, Recycle Bicycle Harrisburg, SCPa Works, PaArtners, Berks JazzFest, and regional technology and marketing organizations.
Resource development
Funding the
work.
I develop proposals, build budgets, and work with partners and grants offices to advance academic, workforce, and community programs.
$399,896
Grant development lead · 2025
SCPa Cyber Defenders
Led the research, budget development, and grants-office coordination for a cybersecurity apprenticeship initiative funded through a $399,896 Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry award to SCPa Works.
$750K
Grant development lead · 2024
E-GROW workforce initiative
Led the research, budget development, and grant-development work for this four-year USDA NIFA-funded workforce and education initiative for controlled-environment agriculture.
$614,917
Principal Investigator · 2025
SIP Pathways to Smart Recovery
Served as Principal Investigator for this U.S. Department of Education Strengthening Institutions Program award to Harrisburg University.
$25K
Grant development lead · 2022
Albright College–Drexel partnership planning
Led research, budget development, and application planning for a consultant engagement supporting the partnership.
$1,106
Reading Samba School recipient · 2017–18
Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts
Reading Samba School received funding for community music education and performance, alongside support from the Reading Musical Foundation.